In this article

Port and protocol requirements for servers

2/15/2018

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In this article

Summary: Review the port usage considerations before implementing Skype for Business Server 2015.

Skype for Business Server requires that specific ports on the external and internal firewalls be open. Additionally, if Internet Protocol security (IPsec) is deployed in your organization, IPsec must be disabled over the range of ports used for the delivery of audio, video, and panorama video.

While this may seem a bit daunting at first, the heavy lifting for planning this can be done using the Skype for Business Server 2015 Planning Tool. Once you've gone through the wizard's questions about what features you plan to use, for each site you define you can view the Firewall Report within the Edge Admin Report, and use the information listed there to create yourfirewall rules. You can also make adjustments to many of the names and IP addresses used, for details see Review the Firewall Report. Keep in mind you can export the Edge Admin Report to an Excel spreadsheet, and the Firewall Report will be one of the worksheets in the file.

Port and Protocol Details

This section summarizes the ports and protocols used by servers, load balancers, and clients in a Skype for Business Server deployment.

Note

When Skype for Business Server starts, it opens the required ports in the Windows Firewall. Windows Firewall should already be running in most normal applications, but if it is not being used Skype for Business Server will function without it.

The following table lists the ports that need to be open on each internal server role.

Required Server Ports (by Server Role)

Server role

Service name

Port

Protocol

Notes

All Servers

SQL Browser

1434

UDP

SQL Browser for the local replicated copy of the the Central Management Store database.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Front-End service

5060

TCP

Optionally used by Standard Edition servers and Front End Servers for static routes to trusted services, such as remote call control servers.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Front-End service

5061

TCP (TLS)

Used by Standard Edition servers and Front End pools for all internal SIP communications between servers (MTLS), for SIP communications between Server and Client (TLS) and for SIP communications between Front End Servers and Mediation Servers (MTLS). Also used for communications with a Monitoring Server.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Front-End service

444

HTTPS TCP

Used for HTTPS communication between the Focus (the Skype for Business Server component that manages conference state) and the individual servers. This port is also used for TCP communication between Survivable Branch Appliances and Front End Servers.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Front-End service

135

DCOM and remote procedure call (RPC)

Used for DCOM based operations such as Moving Users, User Replicator Synchronization, and Address Book Synchronization.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server IM Conferencing service

5062

TCP

Used for incoming SIP requests for instant messaging (IM) conferencing.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Web Conferencing service

8057

TCP (TLS)

Used to listen for Persistent Shared Object Model (PSOM) connections from client.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Web Conferencing Compatibility service

8058

TCP (TLS)

Used to listen for Persistent Shared Object Model (PSOM) connections from the Live Meeting client and previous versions of Skype for Business Server.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Audio/Video Conferencing service

5063

TCP

Used for incoming SIP requests for audio/video (A/V) conferencing.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Audio/Video Conferencing service

57501-65535

TCP/UDP

Media port range used for video conferencing.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Web Compatibility service

80

HTTP

Used for communication from Front End Servers to the web farm FQDNs (the URLs used by IIS web components) when HTTPS is not used.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Web Compatibility service

443

HTTPS

Used for communication from Front End Servers to the web farm FQDNs (the URLs used by IIS web components).

Skype for Business Server Conferencing Attendant service (dial-in conferencing)

5064

TCP

Used for incoming SIP requests for dial-in conferencing.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Conferencing Attendant service (dial-in conferencing)

5072

TCP

Used for incoming SIP requests for Attendant (dial in conferencing).

Front End Servers that also run a Collocated Mediation Server

Skype for Business Server Mediation service

5070

TCP

Used by the Mediation Server for incoming requests from the Front End Server to the Mediation Server.

Front End Servers that also run a Collocated Mediation Server

Skype for Business Server Mediation service

5067

TCP (TLS)

Used for incoming SIP requests from the PSTN gateway to the Mediation Server.

Front End Servers that also run a Collocated Mediation Server

Skype for Business Server Mediation service

5068

TCP

Used for incoming SIP requests from the PSTN gateway to the Mediation Server.

Front End Servers that also run a Collocated Mediation Server

Skype for Business Server Mediation service

5081

TCP

Used for outgoing SIP requests from the Mediation Server to the PSTN gateway.

Front End Servers that also run a Collocated Mediation Server

Skype for Business Server Mediation service

5082

TCP (TLS)

Used for outgoing SIP requests from the Mediation Server to the PSTN gateway.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Application Sharing service

5065

TCP

Used for incoming SIP listening requests for application sharing.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Application Sharing service

49152-65535

TCP

Media port range used for application sharing.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Conferencing Announcement service

5073

TCP

Used for incoming SIP requests for the Skype for Business Server Conferencing Announcement service (that is, for dial-in conferencing).

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Call Park service

5075

TCP

Used for incoming SIP requests for the Call Park application.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Audio Test service

5076

TCP

Used for incoming SIP requests for the Audio Test service.

Front End Servers

Not applicable

5066

TCP

Used for outbound Enhanced 9-1-1 (E9-1-1) gateway.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Response Group service

5071

TCP

Used for incoming SIP requests for the Response Group application.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Response Group service

8404

TCP (MTLS)

Used for incoming SIP requests for the Response Group application.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Bandwidth Policy Service

5080

TCP

Used for call admission control by the Bandwidth Policy service for A/V Edge TURN traffic.

Front End Servers

Skype for Business Server Bandwidth Policy Service

448

TCP

Used for call admission control by the Skype for Business Server Bandwidth Policy Service.

Front End Servers where the Central Management store resides

Skype for Business Server Master Replicator Agent service

445

TCP

Used to push configuration data from the Central Management store to servers running Skype for Business Server.

All Servers

SQL Browser

1434

UDP

SQL Browser for local replicated copy of Central Management store data in local SQL Server instance

All internal servers

Various

49152-57500

TCP/UDP

Media port range used for audio conferencing on all internal servers. Used by all servers that terminate audio: Front End Servers (for Skype for Business Server Conferencing Attendant service, Skype for Business Server Conferencing Announcement service, and Skype for Business Server Audio/Video Conferencing service), and Mediation Server.

Office Web Apps Servers

443

Used by Skype for Business Server 2015 to connect to Office Web Apps Server.

Directors

Skype for Business Server Front-End service

5060

TCP

Optionally used for static routes to trusted services, such as remote call control servers.

Directors

Skype for Business Server Front-End service

444

HTTPS TCP

Inter-server communication between Front End and Director. Additionally, client certificate publish (to Front End Servers) or validate if the client certificate has already been published.

Directors

Skype for Business Server Web Compatibility service

80

TCP

Used for initial communication from Directors to the web farm FQDNs (the URLs used by IIS web components). In normal operation, will switch to HTTPS traffic, using port 443 and protocol type TCP.

Directors

Skype for Business Server Web Compatibility service

443

HTTPS

Used for communication from Directors to the web farm FQDNs (the URLs used by IIS web components).

Directors

Skype for Business Server Front-End service

5061

TCP

Used for internal communications between servers and for client connections.

Mediation Servers

Skype for Business Server Mediation service

5070

TCP

Used by the Mediation Server for incoming requests from the Front End Server.

Mediation Servers

Skype for Business Server Mediation service

5067

TCP (TLS)

Used for incoming SIP requests from the PSTN gateway.

Mediation Servers

Skype for Business Server Mediation service

5068

TCP

Used for incoming SIP requests from the PSTN gateway.

Mediation Servers

Skype for Business Server Mediation service

5070

TCP (MTLS)

Used for SIP requests from the Front End Servers.

Persistent Chat Front End Server

Persistent Chat SIP

5041

TCP (MTLS)

Persistent Chat Front End Server

Persistent Chat Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)

881

TCP (TLS) and TCP (MTLS)

Persistent Chat Front End Server

Persistent Chat File Transfer Service

443

TCP (TLS)

Note

Some remote call control scenarios require a TCP connection between the Front End Server or Director and the PBX. Although Skype for Business Server no longer uses TCP port 5060, during remote call control deployment you create a trusted server configuration, which associates the RCC Line Server FQDN with the TCP port that the Front End Server or Director will use to connect to the PBX system. For details, see the CsTrustedApplicationComputer cmdlet in the Skype for Business Server Management Shell documentation.

For your pools that use only hardware load balancing (not DNS load balancing), the following table shows the ports that need to open the hardware load balancers.

Hardware Load Balancer Ports if Using Only Hardware Load Balancing

Load Balancer

Port

Protocol

Front End Server load balancer

5061

TCP (TLS)

Front End Server load balancer

444

HTTPS

Front End Server load balancer

135

DCOM and remote procedure call (RPC)

Front End Server load balancer

80

HTTP

Front End Server load balancer

8080

TCP - Client and device retrieval of root certificate from Front End Server - clients and devices authenticated by NTLM

Your Front End pools and Director pools that use DNS load balancing also must have a hardware load balancer deployed. The following table shows the ports that need to be open on these hardware load balancers.

Hardware Load Balancer Ports if Using DNS Load Balancing

Load Balancer

Port

Protocol

Front End Server load balancer

80

HTTP

Front End Server load balancer

443

HTTPS

Front End Server load balancer

8080

TCP - Client and device retrieval of root certificate from Front End Server - clients and devices authenticated by NTLM

Front End Server load balancer

4443

HTTPS (from reverse proxy)

Director load balancer

443

HTTPS

Director load balancer

4443

HTTPS (from reverse proxy)

Required Client Ports

Component

Port

Protocol

Notes

Clients

67/68

DHCP

Used by Skype for Business Server to find the Registrar FQDN (that is, if DNS SRV fails and manual settings are not configured).

Clients

443

TCP (TLS)

Used for client-to-server SIP traffic for external user access.

Clients

443

TCP (PSOM/TLS)

Used for external user access to web conferencing sessions.

Clients

443

TCP (STUN/MSTURN)

Used for external user access to A/V sessions and media (TCP)

Clients

3478

UDP (STUN/MSTURN)

Used for external user access to A/V sessions and media (UDP)

Clients

5061

TCP (MTLS)

Used for client-to-server SIP traffic for external user access.

Clients

6891-6901

TCP

Used for file transfer between Skype for Business clients and previous clients.

Used by the listed devices to find the Skype for Business Server certificate, provisioning FQDN, and Registrar FQDN.

* To configure specific ports for these media types, use the CsConferencingConfiguration cmdlet (ClientMediaPortRangeEnabled, ClientMediaPort, and ClientMediaPortRange parameters).

Note

The setup programs for Skype for Business clients automatically create the required operating-system firewall exceptions on the client computer.

Note

The ports that are used for external user access are required for any scenario in which the client must traverse the organization's firewall (for example, any external communications or meetings hosted by other organizations).

IPsec exceptions

For enterprise networks where Internet Protocol security (IPsec) (see IETF RFC 4301-4309) has been deployed, IPsec must be disabled over the range of ports used for the delivery of audio, video, and panoramic video. The recommendation is motivated by the need to avoid any delay in the allocation of media ports due to IPsec negotiation.

The following table explains the recommended IPsec exception settings.

Recommended IPsec Exceptions

Rule name

Source IP

Destination IP

Protocol

Source port

Destination port

Authentication Requirement

A/V Edge Server Internal Inbound

Any

A/V Edge Server Internal

UDP and TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

A/V Edge Server External Inbound

Any

A/V Edge Server External

UDP and TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

A/V Edge Server Internal Outbound

A/V Edge Server Internal

Any

UDP & TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

A/V Edge Server External Outbound

A/V Edge Server External

Any

UDP and TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

Mediation Server Inbound

Any

Mediation Server(s)

UDP and TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

Mediation Server Outbound

Mediation Server(s)

Any

UDP and TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

Conferencing Attendant Inbound

Any

Front End Server running Conferencing Attendant

UDP and TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

Conferencing Attendant Outbound

Front End Server running Conferencing Attendant

Any

UDP and TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

A/V Conferencing Inbound

Any

Front End Servers

UDP and TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

A/V Conferencing Outbound

Front End Servers

Any

UDP and TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

Exchange Inbound

Any

Exchange Unified Messaging

UDP and TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

Application Sharing Servers Inbound

Any

Application Sharing Servers

TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

Application Sharing Server Outbound

Application Sharing Servers

Any

TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

Exchange Outbound

Exchange Unified Messaging

Any

UDP and TCP

Any

Any

Do not authenticate

Clients

Any

Any

UDP

Specified media port range

Any

Do not authenticate

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